Improvement in the construction of houses



eI-uuml tait/e .aient @twine Leners Parma No. 94,116, dazed August 24, .1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES.

The Schedule referred te in these Lettera, Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Bc it known that I, H. M. IRWIN, .of Charlotte, county of Mecklenburg, State of North Garolina,.have invented an Improvement in the Construction of Buildings, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description ofthe same. l

My invention consists of a dwelling-house or other building, hexagonal in form, and. lenclosing av space.

separated into'hexagonal and izengeshaped rooms, substantially as described hereafter; also of a chimney-stack, arranged at the junction of the ,wallsn of thc adjacent hexagonal rooms, and containing-fines communicating with the fire-places in the several rooms.

The objects of my invention are the economizing of .space and building-materials, the obtaining of economical heating mediums, thorough lighting and ventilation, and facilities for inexpensive ornamenta tion.

l will now proceed to describe the mode of carrying my invention into effect, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which formsa part of this speci iication, and iu which- Figure lis an external elevation of a portion of a building egnst-ructed according to my improvement.

Figure a sectional plan view.

The exterior walls A A of the building are atan angle of sixty degrees in respect to each other, and are all of the samewidth, so as to enclose a hexagonal space, and the latter -is'dividedinto hexagonal rooms B, and lozenge-shaped rooms C, by partitions l D, meeting at the centre of the building, and partitions E, equal in length to the partitions D, and extending from the latter to the centre of each of the walls A,-`to which they are at au angle of thirty de grecs.

In the partitions E E there are openings e e, in

which to insert a door-jamb, should the same be desired.

' Thus it will be observed, that without the aid of the ordinary passage, and its consequent Waste of the interior area of the building, I at the same time have .afforded every facility of communication between`the different 'rooms'. Thus it will readilybe seen, that for the purposesnof ventilation, ,850., my arrangement is far superior to any other now used, while at the same time, when privacy is desired in either or all of the apartments, you have simply to close the doors that are hung in the jambs e e, andthe same is instantly secured. i

F is the stairway, and communicates with the basement below and the floor above.

. G-is the chimney-stack, and'is arranged at the junction of the walls D D.

g g g are lire-places, arranged in the rooms B B B, and are connected with flues, each communicating with the chimney G.

In buildings which vare square or oblong in form, it isA dificult tov so arrange the apartments .that each .shall be fully lighted without occupying a compara-` tively large area, and the construction of walls of considerable extent inl comparison with the amount of space enclosed by the walls, while, owing to the extensive fiat surfaces presented by the Walls of the mbuildings,'itis difficult to ornament them at a moder ate expense.

Where apartments .hexagonal in forni are arrangedv Within a hexagonal building, a much greater floorsurface is obtained than in an oblong or square buildingv having walls of a like extent, while the angles formed bythe junction' of the Walls strengthen thel latter, sothat they may be of less thickness, and, consequently,.less expensive to erect, than continuous fiat walls of equal extent. -v In consequence of the arrangement'of the rooms, a portion ofthe exterior walls forms the side of each' apartment, and the latter can therefore be fully lighted and Ventilated. v

In consequence of the inclination at which the different portions of theexterior -Walls`are in respect to each other,"som`e of these portions must almost iulvariablybe in the n'shade, and the building may therefore be ornamented at less expense than one having walls presenting extensive and unbroken flat sur# i faces.

Inasmuch as the Walls of each three adjacent rooms all meet at single points y, iig. 2, a single chimneystack, having fines communicating with the fire-places of all these rooms, may be erected at any point Where the Walls join, the expense of erecting a number of stacks beingthus avoided.

It will be apparent thatv verandas,` porches, bow

vwindows, or.other ornamental and useful additions may be made to the exterior of the house; for instance, the walls A A may be cut away between/the points a: x, iig. 2, leaving a space suitable for a porch or veranda.

The rooms may, if desired, be subdivided, or one or l more partitionsm'aybe removed to obtain single rooms of larger size.

Without confining myself to the precise construction and arrangement of rooms herein described and 1 illustrated,

I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by ,Letters Patent- 1. A building hexagonal in form, when 'its entire interior area is dividedV bypartitions D E into hexagonal and lozenge--shaped rooms, said rooms all communicating with each other through openings e e, In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to substantially as described, and for 'the' purpose 'speoithis speoioation, in the presence of three subscribing fied. witnesses.

2.'. The chimney-stack G, arranged at the junction of the partitions D D of the hexagonal rooms B B B, Witnesses: when the same is provided with fines communicating M. A. OSBORNE, with Jche refplaices g g g, substantially as described, RUFUS BARINGER. as and for the purpose specified..y I. M. HILL.

H. M. IRWIN.A 

